


Wild Thing

by Person



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, First Meeting, Moirails
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-18
Updated: 2011-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-27 12:28:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/295864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Person/pseuds/Person
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time that Equius ever saw Nepeta she was moments away from getting herself killed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wild Thing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Etanseline](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etanseline/gifts).



> Written in response to a request for something that focuses on Equius balancing Nepeta instead of the other way around.

The first time that he ever saw her, she was seconds away from getting herself killed.

It was the three other trolls in front of her that he saw first; each one a blue-blood, though none a shade as high as his own, and each older than them, at an age where it was likely that they'd be going up on the next shuttle to take their assigned places within the Empress' vast military. A dangerous age for a confrontation; they would be itching for any excuse to raise their kill count when even a single death might mean the difference between being allowed straight into whichever position they most desired and being seen as too soft to be anything more than a common foot soldier until they'd spilled more blood for the Empire.

Equius sincerely doubted that was a real concern to anyone who was a member of the aristocracy. Still, it seemed that everyone knew a story about an enemy of an enemy's auspitice's moirail who'd been stuck with janitorial duties for life because they chose to spend their sweeps on Alternia frolicking about in the moonlight instead of making sure it was obvious that they were properly ruthless. Obviously just grub tales, designed to encourage them not to spend all their days loafing once they were out of the caves, but most young trolls wouldn't risk one day finding out that there was some truth to them.

The three fools he'd spotted weren't tormenting another troll but had turned their attention to a lusus instead, a tiny creature that hardly seemed like it would be capable of caring for a wiggler, let alone tending to a ward into adulthood. One held it in the air by its neck, the other two leering as it struggled and squirmed, twisting its body to claw frantically at the hand cutting off its air. It had managed to draw a few thin turquoise streams of blood, but she didn't seem at all inclined to let go.

That alone would likely have been enough to make him step in. Though lusii weren't quite on the same level as the magnificent beasts which roamed their world--they were as intelligent as trolls, after all; if they were attacked it was because they either hadn't noticed or hadn't been able to avoid the danger, not because they were innocently incapable of understanding it--they were still similar enough for it to turn his stomach.

But the thing that really decided Equius was noticing how the troll furthest kept glancing down the alley they were standing in front of and spotting her, skulking through the shadows with her body low to the ground like an animal, when he followed his gaze. He knew at once that she was the one they _really_ intended to torment, and that if he didn't step in before she had a chance to attack she was definitely going to die. Even if she was skilled enough to kill the ones hurting her lusus--doubtful, when the color of her symbol told him that her blood was just high enough to make it unlikely she had any psychic skills and it was even more improbable that she'd have a mutation like his own to even the odds--others would attack until she was taken down. Out in the wilds a green-blood might be able to get away with killing aristocrats even if there was a witness, though the idea made a flash of anger shoot through Equius, but they were in one of the few cities on Alternia and anyone who was watching would feel compelled to attack her for her crime.

After all, they couldn't be sure who might be watching _them_ to see if they turned a blind eye to that crime against the hemospectrum.

He wasn't thinking of pity. Only that, distasteful though it should be to stand with someone of lower blood against others who were almost his equals, he preferred to be on the side of someone attempting to protect their custodian over those who would harm a fragile creature.

"How disappointing," he said, drawing their attention to him, "seeing other bluebloods acting like a _sea dweller_." His mouth twisted with disdain at the thought of the only troll he knew who was a regular lusus-killer, although at least in that case it was more understandable. They all knew why the future empress needed them.

The three of them exchanged glances, then one scoffed, "Eh, he's barely more than a wiggler. Fuck off, little wiggler, this's got nothing to do with you."

"And using such lowblooded language as well," he added, his frown deepening. It really _was_ disappointing, they should know that they were better than that.

" _What_ did you just say?" the ringleader growled. "I don't give a fuck if you're a few shades higher than us, wiggly-boy, we're not letting a _brat_ hardly past his trials insult our blood!" Before he had a chance to point out that it was their language he'd insulted, not their blood, and that at their class level they should also be more aware of the nuances of language, she'd dropped the lusus and lunged at him.

Then reeled back screaming when the bones in her fist shattered at her first punch, without Equius needing to do a thing besides leaning slightly into the hit.

"I recommend that you leave," he told the other two as they stared in shock at their writhing leader. He noticed the girl they'd been attempting to lure into their grasps dart out to pick up her lusus and cradle it to her chest as she retreated back into the shadows but pretended not to see; best not to risk the others following his gaze and turning their wrath on the weaker target she made. "If you would like to be in any fit state to be awarded a decent place within the ranks, at any rate," he added.

He must have been right about how soon they'd be going off-world, because he could see the remark striking home. Both of their faces went pale as they looked at the fallen troll's hand and realized that she'd just lost any hope of being granted a position that required the use of two-handed weapons, and that meant almost any assignment worth having. If her hand healed miraculously well she might one day be able to inch her way up the ranks, but if they'd be shipping out before it had a chance to mend she'd start so low that any advancement would still be into a job that wasn't worth having for someone with blood as high as theirs.

Aristocrats might not really need to worry about being made into foot soldiers because they hadn't been in enough fights, but it could certainly happen if they picked the _wrong_ one. And they must have realized that this was it because they broke and ran, one having enough surprising compassion to stop long enough to pick up their fallen companion and bring her with them. He must have been her matesprit or moirail, Equius assumed, though if it were the latter he certainly could have done a better job of placating her before she did something inadvisable.

With that taken care of he slowly approached the shadows where he'd last seen the girl, finding her crouched behind a trash receptacle. She bared her teeth as he approached as if she were herself a wild animal, wary of a possible new threat, but her hands kept massaging her lusus' neck in gently soothing circles.

He stopped when there was still enough space between them to keep her from feeling trapped, and asked, "Do you know how foolish you almost were? Those three would have attacked the moment you were within reach."

She actually hissed, and held up her hand so he could see shining barbed claws spring out of her sleeve. She was the closest thing he'd ever seen to a beast in troll form, and he realized for the first time that he could feel something stirring within him at the sight. "That's purrfectly okay," she told him, and he wouldn't have expected how cheerful her voice was, even with the slight wary edge he could hear behind it. "I'd have beaten them like a ball of yarn!"

"And those who would have followed, for daring to attack those higher than you in the middle of a city?" He could see from the look of dawning comprehension in her face that she'd never even thought of that. "It was noble of you to want to protect your lusus, but getting yourself killed wouldn't have done it any good."

She looked over his shoulder and he knew that she would see shadowy forms in windows or lurking around doors, all waiting to see if anything more was going to happen. "I didn't even think about that," she admitted, as if it weren't already obvious. "I nefur even come here unless I've run out of supplies I can't make on my own. I furgot people can be so dumb about that sort of thing! Thank you for helping us!"

She bounced to her feet, and any comments he'd planned to make about how it wasn't _dumb_ to care about the hemospectrum were wiped out of his mind by the stench which hit his nose when she was closer to his level. Before he'd assumed that the smell in the air came from the trash receptacle, but the closer she got the clearer it became that it was all her, a fetid mixture of unwashed troll, old blood, and something like stagnant water. He could see the filth on her as she entered the light, and it made him wonder why they'd even dared to pick her as their prey; there were splashes of dried blood all over her, her claws were the only things that were clean. Suddenly his earlier thought about her lusus being too small to properly care for its ward seemed much more likely, and the burst of pity he felt at the thought of the poor girl never being taught how to properly keep herself clean or to survive in society was undeniable. She was a danger to herself as much as to the others who would have been caught in the riot she'd been on the verge of unwittingly starting, and that could not be allowed to stand.

"You need to bathe," he told her, narrowing down everything he'd been thinking to one brief command. "Come with me to my hive, Aurthour and I will see that you're cleaned. You're going to make yourself sick if you stay this filthy; you clearly need someone to take care of you."


End file.
